Dead House Batteries - Page 2

Oneilkeys · 07-08-2016, 01:05 AM

In my Axis the detector light goes out when the store switch is turned to off.

Greg84 · 07-13-2016, 01:23 PM

Well, I just got off the phone with my freightliner dealer. They have traced the parasitic draw to a bad inverter. The ground is feeding back into the house batteries draining the batteries in about 3-4 days.

Joy......need to find out what the warranty on the inverter is. And keep the house batteries disconnected when not tied into shore power. Good thing I have an extended warranty.

Oneilkeys · 07-13-2016, 01:47 PM

That's interesting. So they say it is in the internal ground in the inverter and not the way the ground is hooked up.... otherwise they would have fixed it. Please keep us updated on your progress. With as many people who have had a problem with this over the years, I wonder if this is a design issue, a quality control issue or just yours.

Greg84 · 07-14-2016, 01:56 PM

So I picked the MH up from Freightliner yesterday and had an opportunity to speak to the tech who found the draw. He put about 7 hours into finding it. The house side totally checked out. As did the generator feed and the shore power. When he started on the chassis side he found a 324 ma draw in the inverter. This draw was draining the batteries in 2-3 days.

He told me that he has never seen any components of the inverter being replaced, only whole replacement of the inverter. And he was not able to pinpoint where in the inverter the issue was, only that the inverter is the issue. One option presented was to place a disconnect switch on the chassis ground to prevent the draw. But this really doesn't solve the problem.
So off to the dealership I went with my extended warranty - I had already called ahead and spoke to them. Even though the first appointment was not until mid Aug they said bring it in.

My dealership has put some really phenomenal staff on the service desk over the past 6 months. I presented them with the findings from Freightliner and the cost I incurred. The customer service rep in the Service Dept was very helpful. She said they will contact Thor and my extended warranty folks and get the inverter and try to recover my cost. She asked when my next trip was planned (it was next week...but we canceled it to get this repaired (and too much other stuff going on, so no big deal)...and our next trip is 7 Aug. She said she will try to get it repaired by 30 July...she has been true to her word in the past.

The first time the house battery went dead was in Feb while we were still under the Thor warranty. I had the batteries recharged at Freightliner while it was in for state inspection. I thought I had inadvertently left the house batteries connected, but I didn't, the inverter went bad.

Maybe I should have taken it to the dealership under warranty for the recharge, but hindsight is 20-20.

Hopefully, this works out as well as it appears to going at the moment.

Oneilkeys · 07-14-2016, 03:18 PM

Thanks for the post, I will have to try to check that out.

vkb · 07-29-2016, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oneilkeys

Thanks for the post, I will have to try to check that out.

Oneil...a few weeks ago, you wanted an update regarding Ron using the trickle charger on our chassis battery. I lost the thread on which you inquired.
He had been using the trickle charger, similar to your using the solar panel..
it keeps the battery charged and shuts off when it is fully charged.
Last week, he disconnected the charger, to check to see how well the chassis battery was holding its charge. He was happy to see the battery (brand unknown) held its charge without the trickle charger.
We make sure, when we shut down the Axis (turn off motor),
we manually turn off the Axxera. For those of you who are not aware, the
Axxera does not shut off completely, when the ignition is turned off.
To date, Ron has not installed a 'knife' on the chassis battery.

Oneilkeys · 07-29-2016, 01:30 AM

Thanks. I too manually turn off the radio and hook up my solar panel to the chassis battery if u am going to be gone fo a while. It seems the easiest.

vkb · 07-29-2016, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oneilkeys

Thanks. I too manually turn off the radio and hook up my solar panel to the chassis battery if u am going to be gone fo a while. It seems the easiest.

Ron agrees....
realizing the history of the Harris Batteries...I wonder if Thor replaced them in the 2016 with something else, as we have no complaints with the chassis or house batteries. Did you replace yours ?

JamieGeek · 07-29-2016, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vkb

Ron agrees....
realizing the history of the Harris Batteries...I wonder if Thor replaced them in the 2016 with something else, as we have no complaints with the chassis or house batteries. Did you replace yours ?

It took our Harris battery 1.5 seasons before it went, and it was painted over so I couldn't really see what brand it was until I removed it (and the letters rris were revealed).

Since our new battery has only been in for about 4 months I can't say if it will last or not (it isn't a Harris) but I also installed a house battery disconnect when I replaced the Harris battery.

When ours is in storage both batteries - (Neg) post is disconnected at the battery.

vkb · 07-29-2016, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

It took our Harris battery 1.5 seasons before it went, and it was painted over so I couldn't really see what brand it was until I removed it (and the letters rris were revealed).

Since our new battery has only been in for about 4 months I can't say if it will last or not (it isn't a Harris) but I also installed a house battery disconnect when I replaced the Harris battery.

When ours is in storage both batteries - (Neg) post is disconnected at the battery.

Thank you for the update Jamie ! Good to know.

Oneilkeys · 07-30-2016, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vkb

Ron agrees....
realizing the history of the Harris Batteries...I wonder if Thor replaced them in the 2016 with something else, as we have no complaints with the chassis or house batteries. Did you replace yours ?

I bought two Walmart 29's for my 2014 Vegas last year and moved them to my 2016 Axis since it only had one battery. My Walmart batteries are still at 95% after a year of use.

vkb · 07-30-2016, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oneilkeys

I bought two Walmart 29's for my 2014 Vegas last year and moved them to my 2016 Axis since it only had one battery. My Walmart batteries are still at 95% after a year of use.

good to know ! I will pass info on to Ron .. safe travels !

Greg84 · 08-10-2016, 11:24 PM

Well, we got the MH back on Monday. Everything is working well, new inverter installed. Magnum ended up covering it. Ended up leaving for our trip a day later than anticipated, but no big deal as the first campground could only accommodate us for 6 days vice 7.

Unfortunately, the dealership damaged my ladder on the back of the RV, bent it all to hell. Looks like they back into a fence or something.

Thankfully, the endcap doesn't appear damaged.

If it's not one thing, it's another......

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